Main Story
- Tunisia’s Women Farmworkers: A Departure from a Victimization DiscourseANALYSIS Dhouha Djerbi 17 September 2021 One cannot drive through rural Sidi Bouzid – the birthplace of the 2010 Tunisian revolution – without noticing the many women sitting or standing in the open cargo area of dilapidated light-duty trucks. If they survive these hazardous “cattle-like” journeys, they reach farmlands owned by large landowners or corporate entities, where they spend an average of eleven hours engaging in harsh agricultural labor. As the sun sets on their workday, they are transported back to their homes…
- Living Law and African Women’s Rights in a Digital EraANALYSIS Linda Besigiroha 10 September 2021 For many women in Africa,[1] ‘everyday’ living represents not ‘ordinary’, but a literal daily struggle to exist on one’s own terms. My home country Uganda, for instance, is lauded for making significant strides in educating girls and broadening women’s access to the public sphere, but ‘the personal’ is yet to become truly political in ways that can change women’s lives in meaningful ways: in terms of wielding effective political clout,[2] financial independence, personal safety, or ‘simple’ things…
Politics
- Is Civil War Coming to Somalia?COMMENT René Brosius 28 April 2021 The conflict over elections in Somalia[1] , which has been ongoing since last summer, has reached the next stage of escalation. Internationally mediated talks between the government, whose term has constitutionally expired[2] and the National Salvation Council (NSC), consisting of the presidential candidates, the prime ministers of Jubbaland and…
- Somalia vs. Kenya – The maritime border disputeCOMMENT René Brosius 09 April 2021 Somalia and Kenya do not have a tension-free relationship. Many reasons for this lie in the conflict-ridden history. The border between the two countries is a disputed colonial legacy. Large ethnic Somali minorities still live on Kenya’s territory, especially in the so-called North Eastern Province. The majority of the…
- Encouraging Renewable Energy Deployment in Kenya – Analysing the Legal and PoliticalToolsANALYSIS Hannah Kadner 12 March 2021 Kenya 2030 – a mission (almost) accomplished. A mission designed to address the issue of insufficient energy supply in the East African country. Considering that Kenya is a so-called developing country (ranking 147th of 189 on the Human Development Index, in 2019) this aim of Kenya`s former president Mwai…
Human Rights
- Collective Human Rights in the Context of DecolonisationANALYSIS Prof. Dr. Bernd Kannowski 09 July 2021 What is decolonisation? By decolonisation we mean the processes of replacement that lead to the end of colonial rule, but above all the social, cultural, legal and economic developments that follow state independence. The process of decolonisation can be divided into five phases, with many considering the…
- Entrenching the CRC’s ‘environmental rights’COMMENT Prof. Dr. Thoko Kaime 30 June 2021 The CRC does not explicitly guarantee children a right to an ecologically healthy environment. However, within its environment-related children’s rights lies the core content of such a right. Both the interpretive as well as the monitoring functions of the Committee offer the possibility of better defining the…
- Challenges of Criminalizing ukuthwala and Protecting Girls in South AfricaCOMMENT Lea Mwambene and Roberta Mgidlana In this short note we ask: What are the challenges of criminalizing ukuthwala in the protection of girls affected by the practice? Ukuthwala is a ‘romantic mock abduction’ of an unmarried woman by a man who intended to marry her.[1]The intention is to force the girl’s family to enter…
Elections
- House of Cards in Villa SomaliaANALYSIS René Brosius 17 September 2021 In April 2021, after Somalia was on the brink of civil war, it seemed for a long time that the solution would be found in a tough (s)election process. The May 27, 2021 agreement and Prime Minister Roble’s timetable presented at the end of June stipulated that this process…
- Insights and Additional Information on the Socio-Legal Discourse around Anti-RacismIntersectionality as a Key Concept for the Protection Against Multiple Discrimination The concept of intersectionality takes into account the interpenetration of various identity categories like race, gender, class, sexuality and disability as well as the structural interlocking of multiple forms of oppression like racism, sexism, classism and heterosexism by using an analogy to traffic: “Discrimination,…
- Constitutional Crisis in Somalia – Democratic, Free and Fair Elections?ANALYSIS René Brosius 10 February 2021 The upcoming presidential elections in Somalia are dominated by the debate on free and fair elections, a debate that brought the country to the brink of civil war. While the states of Puntland, Jubbaland as well as the united opposition in the country insist that the president’s term has…